News

Bats on Camera at Riding Mountain

In the spring of 2016 the management of Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba installed 12 Motel bathouses, some of which were specially equipped with infra-red cameras that will eventually let them (and us!) see the bat activity in their installations.

While we haven’t seen any action yet, we’re eagerly awaiting the first video from the inside of a Canadian Bathouse which will be playing live inside the Visitor Centre at Riding Mountain.

Spy cams were installed at the bottom of the house to monitor the entrance, on the sides, and on the back. The cameras and transmitters are powered by solar panels mounted below. Awesome!

Meantime, here are a few photos of the installation process:

Our houses were given lean-to additions to accommodate the power and transmission equipment for the cameras!

The camera and transmission equipment is all powered by solar panels at the base of the house installations.

A regular Motel being tree-mounted at Riding Mountain National Park.

A tree-mounted Motel with Riding Mountain’s custom camera additions.

No predators will be bothering these bats – and they’ll never know they’ve got an audience on the web.

Video: Bats Have a Friend in the Bates Brothers – Shaw TV, August 2012

Kluane National Park is now offering new overnight accommodations – specifically for bats.

The nocturnal creatures have been spending their springs roosting in the attic of the Parks Canada administration building. To avoid displacing the bats with some planned renovations, conservation officers decided to build new homes – rectangular boxes, about two feet wide and three feet long.

“We recognize that they play an important role in our ecosystem as a major control insect,” said Craig McKinnon, a resource conservation manager at Kluane National Park.

Bats eat a lot of mosquitoes and other bugs. According to figures from Yukon Environment, a colony of 100 Little Brown bats can eat about 20 kilograms of insects in four months… Read more at yukon-news.com

Students at Ecole catholique Franco-Superieur are going batty for the latest addition to their school.

With the inspiration of parent volunteers and the blessing of school officials, students welcomed a new bat house, which was installed in the facility’s outdoor classroom.

Mae Cerisano, a Grade 3 student at the school said she and her classmates think bats are pretty cool.

“They can do little noises and it bounces on a wall, it comes back to their ears and then they hear it,” the eight-year-old said, explaining how the visually challenged mammals manage to find the thousands of insects they rid the world of each night… Read more at tbnewswatch.com

Canadian Bat Houses Installed on City of Vancouver Golf Courses

“VANCOUVER — Dogs are man’s best friend, but bats?
Well, it might sound a bit batty, but they could prove to be a golfer’s greatest pal.
At least that’s what Howard Normann, head of golf course operations for the City of Vancouver, is hoping.
On Thursday, crews will erect six specially built bat houses — two in each of the city’s three golf courses — in the hopes of attracting 1,800 bats to roost in them…” - Read the full story at the Vancouver Sun

Central Park: Vancouver public golf courses house bats

“THE PARK BOARD is installing bat houses at three of its public golf courses this week.
When I heard the news I (jokingly) asked Howard Normann, supervisor of golf course operations for the park board, whether he thought the bat houses will help golfers with their swing.
And to my surprise, his answer was yes he does, albeit in a roundabout way.
According to Normann, golfers complain constantly that there are too many mosquitoes on the city’s public courses…” - Read more at the Vancouver Courier.

5 Bat Houses Donated to Royal Tyrrell Museum – Drumheller, AB

“Through the generous support of Canadian Bat Houses Inc. and Dr. Robert Barclay, Professor and Department Head of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, the Museum will be introducing five bat houses into Midland Provincial Park in spring 2011. Our hope is that through the use of bats we can reduce the use of pesticides used to control mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes in the surrounding area. Each bat house can hold up to 200 bats and each bat can eat up to its weight equivalent in insects each night. That’s a lot of mosquitoes!” - Learn more about the Royal Tyrrell Green Team and their Bat Housing Project on the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s website.

Canadian Bathouses Contributes to Camp H.O.P.E.

Summer, 2007: Canadian Bathouses was pleased to provide assembly kits for 15 “Standard” Bat Houses to Camp H.O.P.E., A Lasting World’s camp for needy youngsters. A Lasting World provides environmental education worldwide, and runs its Camp H.O.P.E. program for a week each summer. The kids enjoyed putting the houses together and have since reported back that many of their houses are occupied by bat colonies.